TOME Fanfiction
by Candaru
Summary: A fanfic for the Terrain Of Magical Expertise that's probably going to be terrible and take a lot of liberties. Takes place after episode 13. After a devastating failure at saving the world of TOME, our heroes run into each other in real life and confusion soon ensues. (Still a work in progress)
1. Prologue

Alpha didn't know what was happening. All he knew was, it was too late.

One moment, he'd been agreeing to save Netking Software from being held hostage. And now… it was being destroyed. His body was moving so fast, he didn't even have time to be afraid. He watched the world move around him as he ran from the glowing grey mass. Words seemed to be thoughts more than tangible waves of sound as they swirled around in the virtual air, desperate to reach their intended targets.

TAKE COVER!

MICHAEL, RUN!

SIR GAMECRAZED! WHAT ARE Y-

EVACUATE! EVERYONE, LOG OFF!

WHAT'S GOING ON?!

LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU-

KIZUNA!

Then everything went black.


	2. Section 1 (Chapter names to be edited)

It had been almost five months since the incident. Michael got out of bed to his alarm, threw on an outfit, and walked downstairs with light shadows under his eyes. He hit the button on the coffee maker and booted up his laptop. A typical morning, and he didn't expect the rest of it to be any different.

He was wrong.

 _Bzzt._

"Odd," he pondered. "Mom shouldn't be calling until after school…"

He picked up his phone and looked at it.

YOU HAVE [1] NEW TEXT.

It was an unrecognized number, which was to be expected if it wasn't one of his parents calling. Michael didn't even have anyone else in his contacts. Intrigued, he opened the message- and pinched himself.

Hello, Michael. Apologies for taking your time, but this is not a spam message. Please hear me out.

My name is Stephanie, and I once had a group of friends whom I was very close with. I lost contact with these friends a few months ago, and I have been searching a long time to find them again.

Anyway, to cut to the chase: One friend in particular had the same first name as you- Michael. I've been looking up people on the internet named Michael and contacting every one that fits the description.

So, if you are or happen to know of another boy of about four-foot-nine with black hair and black eyes named Michael, could you please call/text me back and let me know? Thanks again.

Alpha's head was spinning. He had described his (rather plain) real life self to Flamey once over TOME, yes. But how did she find him? The internet was HUGE, and he barely had a presence on it…

He suddenly realized he was going to be late to school if he didn't get a move on. He shoved last night's homework into his tattered red bag, glanced at the note from his mom, and walked out, locking the door behind him.


	3. Section 2

That night, Alpha ran all the way home. He'd been so busy with schoolwork he hadn't had time to respond to the message at all. He scribbled his mom a note to see when she got home later that night, threw his bag on the small couch they owned, and immediately started texting Stephanie back.

-Steph:

I have no idea how you found my number, and I really don't care. Please- if we were ever to hang out in real life, we need to do it now. I don't know when I might lose you again. Give me a time and a place and I'll be there. I'll even ditch school if I have to.

-Alpha

P.S. Do you know what happened to the others? Have you seen Nye or GC or Kirb in real life? Poor Kirb wasn't even there when the system crashed.-


	4. Section 3

Alpha didn't get much sleep that night. He kept waiting for his phone to light up again; with the number he'd now registered as "Flamey." He finally dropped off to sleep, and his answer came in the morning.

-Alpha:

I'm literally freaking out right now. I've been searching for you for FIVE MONTHS! I don't even know how to express how I feel right now. I think my phone needs more emoticons.

Bad jokes aside- I know from the little I gleaned about you online (seriously, you REALLY need to go on social media more often) that you live near Central Park. Can we meet there on Saturday at around noon? I've already saved up my money for a plane ticket- I have been since I lost contact with you guys. Speaking of which, no, I have not heard from any of the others. Contact with Nye is pretty much out of the question, since he's probably still out in Knutsford. I haven't seen Kirb, and tbh, I'm really worried about GC. I hope it was just my imagination in the midst of all the confusion, but… it almost seemed that he was dissolving as the ground of TOME was. And Nylocke was screaming his head off NOT to log off while that Zetto guy was doing the contrary… Ugh, nothing about what happened makes sense. Let's save that for when we see each other in person.-

Saturday… That was only two days away. He didn't have any other plans, and his mom would probably be thrilled that he was actually going to talk to someone. Hands still shaking from disbelief, he texted back a quick response.

-Sure, Saturday should be fine. I'm really looking forward to seeing you; I've been missing you terribly since I lost you.-

No… that sounded too emotional. He didn't exactly want to give away his feelings over text. He tried to reword the text several times before giving up and replacing the second sentence with a "J" and hitting send.


	5. Section 4

_Saturday. A whole day without work._

 _To think that this used to excite me._

Chris slung a bag over his shoulder containing a laptop, a bottle of water, an apple, and a heart-shaped locket. He'd been tempted to throw out the last of the objects many times, but it was the last thing that gave him any hope at all; any reason to keep living.

 _She could still be alive,_ it reminded him. But thinking that way only brought tears and more sadness as he was pulled back down to earth.

 _Stop. Stop thinking about sad things. Play a mind game._ He commanded himself. He locked up his apartment and started walking. He wasn't sure where to; he just needed to walk.

 _A mental game…_ that was his way of blocking out all the bad thoughts in his head. He would come up with a list of sorts that fit into a category, and it kept his mind too busy to remember. To remember all the wounds he'd caused and all the pain he'd been through.

 _The alphabet. Animals._ He decided. He started on A.

 _A. Anteater._

 _B. Bear._

 _C. Cat._

 _NO. NOT CAT. NOT CAT._

He couldn't think of anything else that started with C, but he didn't need to. He soon noticed an old lady having some trouble crossing the street. He walked up to her and instantly started helping her without words.

"Thank you, sonny," she said after they had crossed. She patted his cheek affectionately. "It's always nice to see a kind soul as young as yourself."

He watched her walk away, and then decided to go to the park, since he was right next to it now anyway.


	6. Section 5

Alpha sat on one of the big park benches alone, swinging his legs nervously. He'd dreamed about meeting Flamey in real life plenty of times, though perhaps not under such sad underlying circumstances. In all of his daydreams, it hadn't been just them, at least not for very long. They'd be at an ice cream shop, or an amusement park, or even on a bench just like this one. And they'd talk and laugh and share stories, and then run into the others, and they would all be a gang together like in TOME. Kirb would make sarcastic jokes, Nylocke would narrate the group as they hung out, Flamey would be the leader in all of their activities, and GC would watch from the sidelines with his quiet but kind eyes.

Somehow, even though part of that dream was going to come true, it still felt… wrong. Like… something bad was going to happen.

Trying desperately to shake off the feeling, Michael suddenly noticed a little girl sitting next to him that he swore hadn't been there a minute ago.

Looking around, he noticed he didn't see anyone else there, even any adults.

"Hey there," he said quietly to the girl.

She looked at him with huge brown eyes. She studied him for a moment, and then responded, "Hi."

"Where are your parents?" He asked, concerned about someone her age being out alone in central park.

Alarmed, the girl started shaking. "P-please d-don't hurt me," she squeaked quietly. Alpha looked at her in surprise.

"Of course I'm not going to hurt you," he responded soothingly. "Do you know where your parents are? Are you lost?"

She was quiet for a few minutes, as if she wasn't sure how to respond to that question. Finally, she said, "I haven't seen my parents for a long time. I- I think one of them…" She cut herself off, as if she wasn't supposed to be sharing that information.

Alpha pondered the girl quizzically. She was acting much older than she looked, as if she had some big secret that she didn't want anyone to know about.

"How old are you?" He asked, trying not to show his curiosity.

She looked at him with a sudden seriousness. He was shaken a little at how much emotion her eyes conveyed when the rest of her face was set in stone.

"I am one-and-a-half years old," she responded.

"HEY, ALPHA!" A sudden voice broke the tension. Michael looked up. Across the field, a blond girl was running toward him.

"Steph!" He cried in happiness. He stood up quickly and waved his arms at her. He didn't notice the shock on the little girl's face next to him.

"Hey!" Stephanie laughed, throwing her arms around Michael. He hoped she didn't see him blush. He pulled her away and quickly addressed the little girl.

"Hey, Steph, I think I found a lost child. Says she's only one-and-a-half, though I doubt that." He laughed.

Flamey nodded and crouched down to be at eye-level with the child. "What's your name, sweetie?"

The girl stared at her with those huge brown eyes, seeming- for whatever reason- shocked at her presence. She was quiet for a moment, then:

"You know me as Gamecrazed."


	7. Section 6

Chris approached the park, trying to think of an animal other than a cat that started with the letter C. It shouldn't have been that hard; he was clearly not on top of his game.

There were only three other people in the park- an average teenage boy who seemed around nineteen, a girl whom he assumed was the boy's girlfriend, and a little girl wearing a tattered pink shirt and black jeans that both seemed to have come from Goodwill.

The arrangement of the people was a little odd, though. The girl and boy were staring at the little one like she'd just disproved Einstein's theory of relativity. Somewhat curious as to what she had said, Chris walked up to them.

"Uh… hey," he said. _Great start, Chris. Walk up to two people you've never met before and say 'hey' like you see them every day? Way to be a complete creep._

The girl spun around in surprise, apparently not having heard him walk up.

"Umm… hi?" The boy said in confusion, still evidently frazzled from whatever it was the little girl had said.

"L-look," the older girl snapped, "this is kind of a bad time. So if you don't need anything, I'd rather you leave us alone."

"Ok, ok," Chris responded, putting his hands up. "I just wanted to know what it was she said that made you so surprised," he said, motioning toward the child.

The 'child' turned around and stared not at him but seemingly through him; as if she was scanning his soul. It unnerved Chris.

"Why are you depressed?" The girl asked.

"Why am I- _what?!_ " He responded, alarmed that he was that transparent.

"Why are you depressed?" She repeated.

"Wait," the older girl started, "you can tell when-"

The little one put a finger up to shush her. Chris stared at her for a few moments in wonder and horror at the same time.

"Someone," the girl said slowly, "has passed away. But you did not _see_ them die. You think they may still be alive."

Ok, now Chris was pretty sure he needed to get the heck out of there.

"Okay, look, I get why these two were scared now. I'm just gonna leave…" he started to back away slowly, but the creepy mind-reading girl took a step forward and narrowed her eyes, as if she noticed something she'd missed before.

" _F-father?!_ " She gasped.

There was an awkward silence. Then the black-haired boy cut in.

"So… _You're_ this kid's dad? Why did you just leave her here?"

The girl backed him up. "Forget that, how do you not recognize your own child?!" She seemed to be angry and somewhat sad for the little girl.

"Th-this isn't my child…" He defended awkwardly. "I don't have a child… or a wife… or a girlfriend…"

"You will," the girl responded.

There was about five minutes of everyone just staring at each other confused.

"C-can we clarify what you said earlier?" The older girl finally said to the younger one. "I-I mean, I didn't think… How would someone your age…"

"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself to- which name should I call you by right now?" the girl said to Chris, bowing on one knee like a servant to a king.

"W-wait, what do you mean?" He said, now completely confused.

She looked up and stared him directly in the eyes.

"Don't forget, _father_ ," she said, putting emphasis on the word. "I know. And it will be much harder not to say when _they_ are here."

She knew? Knew what? He had nothing to hide.

 _Yes, you do,_ a voice whispered.

"You know…" He said quietly. "Who _are_ you? Please, just, stop talking in riddles and tell me who you are."

"SOFDTI," she replied.

"So-?!" He took a violent step back.

"Wait, but- hey, you trickster!" The boy suddenly shouted.

"Michael? I don't think she'd have any other way of knowing about GC. She- she can't be lying," the girl whispered to the angry boy.

"Wait- _Michael?!_ " Chris said abruptly. Their voices- how did he not recognize them before? _That's what she meant by she couldn't say my name around THEM… Oh… My…_

"Kirbopher," the girl said at last, addressing him directly, "Meet my friends Alpha and Flamegirl."


	8. Section 7

Stephanie had been searching for Alpha for about five whole months. But never did she think she would run into Alpha, Kirb, and GC- all at the same time. And- what was the deal with GC? Was this why he- _she_ \- didn't want to meet up with the others in real life? Who was Softy?

She brought herself back to the moment.

"K-Kirb?" she said in disbelief to the boy in the blue hoodie.

Alpha, next to her, was quicker to accept the fact that his long-lost best friend was right in front of him, and quickly pulled him into a hug.

"Kirb!" He cried. "TOME shut down because of this crazy explosion, when we were on that mission you didn't want to go on, and the game crashed so I guess they closed it and those jerks from the Gemini tournament were there and everyone was screaming and we tried to contact you but-"

Much to Flamegirl's surprise, Kirb pulled away Alpha rather quickly and cut him off.

"Alpha…" he said quietly- _too_ quietly for his normal self. "I already know."

"You-"Alpha's face fell into disappointment and then confusion. "You already know?"

"Yes… because I was there." He sighed, and then looked at Flamey, Alpha, and… apparently Gamecrazed… one-by-one. GC gave what seemed to be a sympathetic nod.

"You see…" He slowly pulled up the left sleeve of his hoodie, revealing an arm brace. Alpha looked at him in confusion, as did Flamey. Why was he…? _Oh._

"You…" Flamey whispered quietly, anger building up inside of her. "You were… lying to us?"

"Please," he begged, "Give me a chance to explain."

Michael was still looking at the boy with confusion. "I don't understand," he said at last.

He took a sudden step forward and lifted Michael's chin up, forcing him to look him in the eye.

"I. Am. The. King," He said.

It took a moment before Michael stepped back, and in the same moment, Stephanie was hit with several emotions. Sadness, pain, fear, empathy, betrayal, confusion… She couldn't decide which emotion was the strongest. Finally, the little girl looked up at all of them.

"I think," She speculated, "we need to have a little chat."


	9. Section 8

"Agreed," Alpha said, angrier than anyone had ever seen him. "I need some explanations."

"Wait," Kirbopher pleaded, "Can we at least go somewhere NOT out in public where anyone can hear us if they walk by?"

Alpha shot his friend a frustrated sideways glance. "Sure. Whatever. Just- let's get going already."

Gamecrazed looked at her comrades with an unreadable emotion. "I know a quiet place that will serve us well," she said. "Follow me."

And they did. The group walked for almost ten minutes to the outskirts of the city in complete silence. Finally, they reached what looked like an old, abandoned warehouse that GC swiftly opened without hesitation. Inside was the strong smell of pine and cedar, but at least it was quiet, and small windows near the top of the large structure provided sunlight for the group.

Motioning for the group to sit, the small girl walked up to a pile of wood and turned sharply to face them.

"Now," she said with sudden confidence, "I do not believe we have any danger of being seen by any other people. So…"

It was as if a burst of light suddenly hit the little girl, who slowly changed in figure and form until she looked about the average of the other three's ages.

"I assume," she said, taking off the purple hoodie that had suddenly appeared with her transformation, "that you'll feel more comfortable with me in this form."

Ignoring Michael's gaping face, Stephanie just looked at GC in slight annoyance. "Umm… Can you remind me why you didn't just do that in the first place?"

If it had been within her character, Gamecrazed surely would have rolled her eyes. Instead, she just sighed and explained, "This age is not one to be of when you're roaming the city with no guardians. I almost changed into an adult, but you-"she nodded to Michael- "wouldn't have talked to me."

"I thought you hadn't _wanted_ to talk to me," he said in surprise. "You seemed kind of scared of me, actually."

"Well," She admitted, "I wasn't sure who I could trust. But I did need to talk to you- and for that matter, every boy and girl who was your age and may turn out to _be_ you."

Stephanie looked at her, a bit taken aback. "Wait, so you were looking for _us_? That's what I was doing!"

GC nodded, but before she could speak again, Michael cut in.

"So…" He said, glaring at Chris. "We still haven't exactly explained what happened, or _why_ , yet. Not to mention why _some_ of us have been double-crossing."

"I haven't been double-crossing!" Zetto cried. "Look, just-"He sighed. "I actually have a file explaining everything. I made it in case I died an unnatural death and they were trying to figure out who I was or who killed me or something- oh, don't call me paranoid," he snapped at Flamegirl, who was looking at him with a disbelieving look on her face.

"I didn't say anything."

"Well, anyway, if we could just find a computer-"

SOFDTI coughed.

"Yea, _you're_ not much help," he said to her. "You haven't even explained how you got that body in the first place."

"If you would just be patient," she sighed, "I'll explain everything. First, give me the file."

Hesitantly, Chris pulled down his hood and removed a pendent from his neck. A curious blue USB stick hung off the end of it. Removing the cap for her, he handed the data to GC.

Holding out her right arm, the girl adjusted it with another flash of light into a smallish screen with a slot for a USB stick. Inserting it, the girl motioned for the others to sit down and watch- and then she hit play.


	10. Section 9

GC understood that it might be disturbing- almost traumatic- to learn that your best friend was the same guy that had caused you and your loved one near death multiple times. Still, Michael shouldn't have been so quick to judge.

Indeed, after watching the eight-minute-and-three-second clip, the boy did seem considerably less angry at his friend. He was still in a slight state of shock, but at least the girl was starting to sympathize with him. Gamecrazed hoped that Alpha would forgive his friend in a reasonable amount of time- she herself was all too familiar with needing to create an outlet with which to enjoy herself.

"So…" Christopher said, taking the portable stick out of the computer and hanging it back over his neck.

"Well," Flamegirl reasoned slowly, "I guess we can't exactly get mad at you for what you did. But this still doesn't completely explain what happened to TOME- it barely explains it at all, in fact."

The boy nodded and looked at his new 'hoodie buddy' with a puzzled glance. "Yea, _I'm_ confused about that. Can you please tell me how exactly you got into the real world, for starters?"

The AI chuckled. Or- she supposed- she didn't need to refer to herself that way anymore. Was she technically a human now? She had a human soul… Well, that was not the matter of concern at the moment.

"I'll explain how I got here if you'll explain how I came to be," she ordered. "I assume you'll be able to put it into words better than I."

So Chris did. And from one explanation, came another question. For a long time, the group sat in the shed, learning about the coming of TOME from the thing itself and one if it's creators- indeed, it's parents.

Then, when everyone was caught up, SOFDTI finally started explaining just exactly went down on the fateful night that seemed now years instead of months in the past.


	11. Section 10

After agreeing to Neomutant's plan, Alpha, Flamey, and Nylocke had logged into the moon to find a defense already set up for them. Since he'd thought Tigerlilly was the only line of defense even in the base, Neomutant was most surprised by the hacker guard and was quickly removed from the situation. Doing their best to avoid the same fate as their comrade, the others managed to defeat the foul creature by working together in battle and move on. When they reached the top, they found an expectant Tigerlilly ready for more combat. Seeing very soon into the clash that they could not hope to destroy the thing's hacked armor, Flamegirl managed to slip away from the group and make it to the core of the program- a very strange structure that resembled the head of a dragon. The rest of the tube, she'd figured, must have been its body and tail. Raising her finger-gun for a flame bullet, she'd suddenly gotten dragged aside and gagged by none other than Zetto, who was not only guarding the head but booting it up for action. With her hands tied behind her back with hacked, undeletable rope, she'd attempted to run down and warn the others. Tired as they seemed from fighting Tigerlilly, they ran with her up to the head, the mechanical beast following. Zetto had already managed to start the process of the dragon and the roof was now open, like a skylight. One wall- the one the program's head faced- was being lowered into the ground, revealing a sort of runway for which the program to launch from. Trying desperately to destroy the thing, Alpha and the others ran at the head with all their might, attempting to break it. This was their undoing- something about the slam caused the dragon's core to load much faster than it was supposed to, and within a minute its eyes were glowing pink, ready for battle. The code for its instructions had already been input, and Tigerlilly couldn't undo them fast enough. The dragon let out a mighty roar, and apparently summoned the Forbidden Power to appear in the sky in front of it. This in actuality was not supposed to happen until later that night, when the dragon had gotten time to charge and get warmed up. In a last-minute attempt to buy some time, Zetto tried desperately to contact the Netkings- only to find that the virus had already taken care of them along with Neomutant and Odboll.

That was when things got confusing.

Looking up at the Forbidden Power, the antivirus dragon let out a low growl and then lunged into the air strait at it. What ensued was even worse than Zetto and Kizuna had planned- the virus had gotten strong enough to develop its own form at that point, and had grown into the mighty beast that it had once possessed long ago in the days of Beta.

Down on the ground of TOME, Gamecrazed- or, as a few were more used to calling her- SOFDTI, sensed a disruption in the air of TOME itself. She hadn't wanted to risk flying up to the moon, as the Forbidden Power's destruction may had led to her ultimate deletion, and she wanted to minimize that risk. She'd thought being further away from the virus may keep her out of danger, but alas, things were not that simple.

As the dragons clashed, Alpha and his friends ran as fast as they could to the machine controlling the antivirus dragon in an attempt to break it, not realizing what they were truly doing. At the same time, Zetto sent a frantic PM to Gamecrazed (as her powers were weakened to the extent of the moon; for it was not directly connected to TOME itself and was rather a subprogram) explaining what was happening while Tigerlilly made a fatal error in going after the virus itself. Unequipped and unprepared, she launched off of her back haunches at the FB, screaming. It turned around quickly from the other dragon it was fighting and with one claw, smashed her to the ground, breaking all of her hacked armor instantly and revealing who she really was.

Struggling to her feet, the poor girl was suddenly slashed once more by the virus dragon and gave a shriek of pain. As she made a hasty retreat back towards the base to grab more equipment, Nylocke was the first of the 'enemy' group to realize that destroying the mechanical antivirus may not be the best idea, as it was the only thing holding the Power itself back from annihilating them all. Changing tactics, Alpha, Flamegirl, and Nye all used their long-range attacks on the glowing beast, not realizing that their character's designs were puny compared to the sheer essence of the dragon.

At that moment, several things happened at once. This was the part everyone remembered- the explainable sights and the confusion that ensued.

Kizuna smashed open an 'in case of emergency' box and grabbed the contents inside- not a fire extinguisher, but a glowing pink flame: one of the earlier prototypes of the antivirus. At the same time, the antivirus dragon pushed the wretched thing from behind, causing it to glitch while below, Nylocke attempted to throw his sword at it, worsening the problem. Then- just as Flamegirl was making a run for the edge, dragging Alpha along- a purple shadow lunged out of the air and landed on the moon, quickly taking the familiar shape as Gamecrazed. Unfortunately, she was too late. As Kizuna hurled the antivirus through the air at the already unstable Forbidden Power, it figured out where the D-Bugger's control panel was and gave it a clean, direct hit, putting the powerful pink weapon out of use. Gamecrazed summoned large chains like the ones she'd used before, but this time, she knew they wouldn't be strong enough. To strengthen them, she performed an act of self-sacrifice and instead drew the chains from her own body, forging them as living purple guards of the code she wished to contain. Zetto realized what was happening, and- not permitting the AI to give herself up- lunched directly at the beast like Kizuna had done; only with his mechanical arm in ready position to absorb the thing. Seeing an inevitable destruction if he got taken in by the machine, the FB raised its giant claw for another attack whilst Flamegirl was running over to the smoking control panel for the D-Bugger in attempt to fix it.

Below, on the ground, Nylocke quickly realized something was not right- as the dragon raised its claw, it started to glitch again- this time, Gamecrazed glitching with it. Then, in one simultaneous blast of events- Kizuna lunged up into the air with her hacked abilities, knocking Zetto aside, Alpha shrieked from his character model malfunctioning with the rest of TOME, Flamegirl grabbed his hand and tried to make another run for it, the FB swung at Kizuna, knocking her unconscious, Gamecrazed wrapped her self-chains around the thing causing her to dissolve from the sheer resisting of the Power, and Nylocke grabbed her disbanding body in confusion and fear.

Then- this was the actual clarification everyone needed- Kizuna's eyes went grey, signaling a premature logoff that was highly dangerous and could result in death. Alpha and Flamegirl both logged out normally, leaving the dissolving ground of TOME. Zetto, holding Kizuna's limp character model, charged straight at the Forbidden Power with no thought or plan as Gamecrazed's entire model was melting like wax on a candle- changing from purple to pink, the protrusions on her back revealing themselves as mere coverings for wings. Before Zetto could make a blow to the virus fatal to himself, he hit the chain on accident, and SOFDTI force-logged him out. As only the pink and grey entities and Nylocke were left on TOME, GC gave one final order to Nylocke: Log out. Now.

The exact moment after he (hesitantly) obeyed, the Forbidden Power overpowered its counterpart- but instead of destroying its opponent (glitching and unstable as they both were), it could manage only to force its enemy out of TOME. This was its final error, for in doing so, it caused TOME to leave TOME itself and therefore destroy anything left of it.

The thing about SOFDTI was that she had been discovered- possibly created- in Netking Software's HQ. So when her virtually born soul was kicked out of the program, it took up residence in the first thing it could find: ironically enough, a TOME headset that allowed her to create a character model she thought would suit her. But now the Terrain Of Magical Expertise was nonexistent, and something about SOFDTI's powers allowed her to instead transfer the character into a physical being that she could reside in. This was the form she was now in, explaining the entire long sequence of events that took place in less than one hour on that one fateful night.


	12. Section 11

If anyone had been passing the warehouse, and, perhaps, looked through one of the high-set windows, they would have seen four dimly lit figures, with one sitting on a pile of wood and the other three around her as if to listen to a campfire story. The two figures who were sitting very close to each other- a boy and a girl- were looking at the storyteller with awe, while the other boy was looking only at the ground, his eyes shut tight as if to block out an image.

"GC…" Chris whispered, his voice almost hoarse.

SOFDTI looked down at the boy and smiled. "I don't think she's gone yet, Chris."

A little, but not much, taken aback from her using his real name, he glared at her and mumbled, "How would you know? You can't feel the ground any more. Or read thoughts." His voice wavered on the last part, as he wasn't certain that was the case.

The purple- clad girl walked over to him and sat down, putting a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "Kizuna wouldn't _leave_ right after waking up from being knocked out. The _only_ thing that would compel her to do that would be if she knew that was a way, and the only way, she could save her own life. She probably called 9-1-1 after-"

Choking back tears, Chris lost self-control and started yelling at the girl. "Do you even _know_ what she _did_?! She disconnected herself without logging out. She probably got _electrocuted,_ the brainless, ****ing, moronic little-"he suddenly broke down crying, his face buried in his arms.

SOFDTI smiled at him softly, as suited to her name. "You survived when _you_ did it," she said quietly.

"I know… but…" his voice trailed off. He wasn't even sure how he'd gotten lucky that one time. The odds of Kizuna surviving were… well, he didn't want to think about it.

Alpha and Flamegirl were staring at their companion with newfound compassion, Alpha especially.

"You're… you're in love with her, aren't you?" he said, being careful to keep his tone kind.

Chris bit his lip and nodded to the ground. There wasn't any use in denying it anymore.

Alpha and Flamey looked at each other slightly awkwardly, then back to Kirbopher. It was hard for both of them to believe that, the first time they'd seen his face, they'd missed the shadows under his eyes and the constant red, puffy look someone has when they've just been crying. It didn't take SOFDTI, an expert at body language, to tell that the boy had been through a loss.

"Kizuna," she said slowly, taking time to choose her words, "had she thought she didn't have a good chance at surviving… wouldn't have left. She'd have stuck with you through the very end unless she had a strong belief that logging out would be a better idea."

"What makes you say that?" Chris snapped.

"Oh, I don't know," she replied, using sarcasm for her first time, "maybe the fact that she went three days at a time without logging out for the sole reason to get revenge on your behalf."

"She-"Chris started, but SOFDTI interrupted again.

"Or the fact that the first thing she had to do when she logged back in again was to code over her self-inflicted scars. Oh, small, to be sure, but she didn't want you to know how much she stressed over and cared about you. Maybe it's the fact that she was always a disheveled mess from crying- in game- over the fact that you didn't care about her as much as your friends."

"I didn't-!" He said abruptly.

"I'm not saying you did," SOFDTI verified quickly, "I'm just saying that's what she thought."

Everyone was silent for a time. Michael, starting to shiver from the cold, finally piped up: "My mom's gonna worry about where I went. I don't want to leave, but I should really get home."

"Yea," Stephanie sighed, "Same here. GC, do you have a place to stay tonight?"

"I usually just-"

"She can stay at my place," Chris interrupted quickly, complacent from lashing out at the girl. "I have a fold-out couch she can sleep on."

GC nodded in thanks. "That would be nice. In that case… Michael, Chris, do you have phone numbers? Stephanie?"

Alpha and his best friend exchanged numbers, as did Flamey. Then Alpha and Flamegirl started the trek back to the main city, and SOFDTI helped Chris to his feet, straightening out his wrinkled hoodie.

"Chris?" She said quietly, pulling on her hood. He didn't answer, but looked quietly at her, waiting for the rest of her sentence.

"She loves you, too."

Doing a surprisingly good job of showing no emotion, Christopher pulled his own hood up and said, "Let's get back to my apartment."


	13. Section 12

Chris lay quietly on his bed, breathing slowly. What was it that had made SOFDTI so sure that Kizuna was still alive? She'd mentioned several things, but all of it was mainly just "she wouldn't have left if she didn't think she'd stay alive." And Chris knew better than anyone that, as cautious as Kizuna was with her work and the safety of everyone around her, she was absurdly inattentive to her own needs.

 _The fool…_ he thought sadly. Kizuna had all the bad habits GC had described earlier- staying up for days with no sleep; much less food or drink, and she didn't seem to care anything about her own body. Come to think of it… she didn't really seem to ever want anything of her own, period. She was a workaholic, and the one request that had frequented Chris was "Leave me alone so I can finish working." He remembered many times trying to get her to take a break, even go on a quest without leaving TOME, or do _something_ to clear her mind. Her answer was always the same- "Just leave me alone."

 _If I ever do see her again…_ he resolved to himself, _I won't leave her alone for anything. I will track her down like a hound dog and I won't leave her side until she takes care of herself._

In the other room, Chris briefly heard GC stir. He wondered if she was having dreams. Then he realized if she was, it was probably her first time dreaming at all. Well, maybe she'd dreamt as SOFDTI before she created into GC. Had GC ever gone back to the core of TOME to sleep?

Eventually, the thoughts swirling about his head overcame him, and Chris dropped into a deep slumber.


	14. Section 13

"Zetto…"

The sleeping figure stirred briefly, clutching his pillow a little tighter. He murmured something incomprehensible as he opened his eyes, gathering his surroundings.

 _The poor guy's probably exhausted…_ SOFDTI thought to herself, but continued shaking him gently.

"You have to wake up. We're most likely meeting up with Alpha and Flamegirl later, and then you need to start packing."

The boy sat up, putting his pillow back into place and frowning. "Packing? Where am I going?"

The AI smiled a little. "Washington, of course."

Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he looked at her in confusion. "Why would we be going to Washington? I mean, money for a plane I could scrape up from my savings, but-"

"Netking Software Studios is the first place Kizuna is going to go to," she said while opening a suitcase she'd managed to find in the closet, "once she tries logging into TOME and finds out the place has been destroyed. She may have already."

He was silent for a minute, not sure how to respond. He wanted so desperately to believe that, that he was going to see her again… but if he got his hopes up now and found out it was all for nothing…

"Then you'll be little to no worse off than you are now," SOFDTI said in a motherly voice, zipping up his large suitcase. Zetto didn't know whether to laugh or frown.

"I still don't believe you can't read minds here, too," he said, deciding to keep his emotions to a minimum. GC just shook her head and looked at Christopher's phone on his bedside.

"Oh," she noted, "That'd be Alpha."


End file.
